sounds interesting.

I would start with a darker paint color... something to unify the brick wall. in the Taupe family.

your furnishings are very dark. A light area rug to ground the room would help define.

The drapery panels are too contrasting (for me) blending them with a wall color will make the space feel a bit larger. Love the art/frames you have,

My initial thought would be to do tone on tone and let the textures of all the pieces be the feature. any thoughts on painting the wood furniture (same color you choose for the walls?) choose a couple stark pieces to stand out.

or

Wow, I love it!

Thank you!

Not seeing anything in your schemes which suggests research, education, studying, reading.

Center the table. Rug will be off side.

What’s the room with the wall to wall carpet used for? Can you replace it? It may sound bold but what if you think English Gentry or something? Change carpet to a plaid or herringbone…..

I there one room you can do dark academia? Your artwork says you have in you.

You might want to do a couple of internet searches, or even use the photo search feature on this website for "library dining rooms'' and see what ideas you come up with.

I would also scour the online vintage website "Chairish" for decor like globes and framed artworks, including more framed portaits.

I agree that if you can't remove the wall-to-wall carpet and refinish the floor that changing the carpet style would be a plus.

As much as academia is about study it's also about conversation. Not only at the dining table but in the other rooms, focus on comfortable seating and relaxing seating arrangements.

Finally, if I had settled on your '''theme'', and seeing the arch of your door, I don't think I could resist having somewhere in your spaces a framed print of Rafael's School of Athens. You can buy it online framed in a variety of sizes.

One other thing I'll suggest bringing into the spaces is some distinctive Bauhaus art and shapes

these below are actually from Home Depot

Hubli table lamp from TOV (might look nice in the center of your sideboard with a bauhaus print over it)

oh -- and replace the mission-style sconces on the fireplace

just joking really but if you want them they're from amazon (not joking about getting rid of the mission ones

https://www.chairish.com/product/3168857/1960s-italian-leather-book-spine-wall-art-3-piece-set

https://www.chairish.com/product/2295524/ying-yang-painted-wood-elements-pair

https://www.chairish.com/product/8266839/vintage-botanical-wall-chart-by-jung-koch-quentell-for-hagemann-1960s

Hey Houzzers, I know we’ve seen a townhome with a front room like this carpeted room that underwent a fabulous renovation. Does anyone else recall it? I’m about to go searching!

do you have space for a tall bookcase somewhere. Where you can add some books and oddities. Also an antique globe somewhere would be really cool. is there room to place a velvety lounge chair somewhere for reading.

You don't need to buy any more things. You have plenty. Otherwise, you are headed to clutter nightmare/hoarder look. Let your look evolve from things that you acquire in the course of life, not things bought just to achieve a look.

I suggest you put the booze in the sideboard--or just leave a few bottles out. Ditto with the plates and cereal box looking thing. Stick the vase where the booze was if you are set on keeping it. Leave the salt and pepper shakers (6?) in the kitchen. Less is more.

I'm loving that direction, but my husband is throwing a flag on the play. He's worried that a rug in the dining room would be impossible to keep clean.

We have two black cats and we eat all of our meals in the dining room since there isn't space in our kitchen for a table.

Having a rug under the table will “anchor” it in the space. I have always had a rug wherever my table was and never had a problem keeping them clean. Sisal is very hard to keep clean but choosing the right type of rug makes a difference. Low pile is easier care.
There are washable “Ruggables” now and any wool rug will clean up from animal “presents” with Resolve. My older cat threw up everywhere and my wool rugs survived.

Please share this with your husband so you can have the option of an area rug.

I think it is really important that you do not lock into a "style" that BTW I have no dea wht that style is really. I do agree less is more and maybe you need to post pics her eof the rooms you like regardless of the "style" I think the best rooms are rooms that serve the purpose you want but not over Designed with stuff with no reason to be there . I dislike collages on accent walls IMO a ton of art on a wall diminishes every piece of art on that wall. You have some interesting pieces let them breathe on their own , maybe in perfect spots for each piece .I do not like rugs in DRs Roome need cohesion so at least the drapes you see together IMO need to be the same and they need to touch the floor .Put the booza way above that cabinet is a perfect spot for a piece of art for sure. Stuff sitting on the floor as decor is edging toward a mess not to mention the PITA when cleaning.

Mrs. Beasley – The carpeted room up the two steps is our living room. Eventually, we would like to get a sectional for movie nights and large gatherings. Heck, that’s why we bought the place, so we could more comfortably host DND gatherings, dinner parties and etc.

mytwo cents – I totally want to replace the lights over the fireplace, but I’ve been struggling to find the right light fixtures.

HU-227031627 – The box on top of the sideboard contains lights that my husband is supposed to install inside the sideboard. Most of the items on the top of the sideboard are going to go on the inside of the buffet once my husband installs the lights.

I'm with your husband on NO rug under the dining room table. But something I might consider is to get another round rug but thinner and simpler, maybe a bit larger, and let the round rug you have loosely overlap it in front of the fireplace, like a Venn diagram, I like this 2-circle jute, but a plain one-color one might be better unter your traditional rug. The point is to overlap them

Then to be adding the Home Depot trio of coffee tables I showed below. along with other seating.

You can wait untll the end to pick sconces for over the fireplae. I actually covered up mine since they limited the space I had to put up an artwork

But these long old fashioned ones might be nice with your other metals. Also comes in bronze

PS: If you're not planning to put your framed big bird over the fireplace, consider putting it beyond the railing, possibly near the window

a soft finish on the walls will help create a blend from your brick and/or stone finishes without looking stark with just a paint.

I must admit I didn't really know what light academia was and had to Google it. I've heard of dark academia, so I had a sense. I think it's a nice look. However, when I look at your current space very little in it really lends itself to any of the photos I saw. You have lots of rich jewel tones, vs the softer pastels and non-primaries I saw. I agree with Patricia it's probably best not to behold yourself to a particular style, but I also understand it helps to label what you like so you can guide the direction you want to go in. So I guess the question is, how much do you want to lean into the light academia style? What are you willing to part with and replace to achieve the look, if anything?.......
FWIW, I'm looking at my LR, and I think I unwittingly styled it in this light academia style. (I'm a recovering comp lit major). Now I know what to call it. 😃

I agree with Patricia less is more! Keep it simpler and it will look like you didn’t try too hard

There are other metal assemblies that can be applied to the brick wall to add interest & allow the brick to still be seen.

I would consider moving the elements on the wall to get a flat surface for art.

Admittedly I’m not certain that light academia is the proper term for the style that my husband and I are attempting to create. My husband and I are nerdy folks that love documentaries, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Doctor Who etc

I find myself attracted to vintage theaters, museums, libraries and speakeasys. My dream of dreams would be if my home made me feel like I do when I visit the “Streets of Old Milwaukee” at the Milwaukee Public Museum.

I have a degree in history, so it’s not surprising that museums feel like magic to me. They’re filled with beautiful, interesting objects with long histories and stories. And certain museums like the Milwaukee Public Museum or the WWII museum in New Orleans make you feel as though you’ve been transported through time and space (like you just stepped off the Tardis).

Initially I hesitated to take my home in any such direction, but then my husband said, “why shouldn’t our home look and feel the way that we want?”

Maybe that’s what is bogging me down; I’m trying to follow “rules,” rather than letting my emotions and instincts guide me.

Also, I’m struggling a bit because I’m designing the space WITH my husband, and he keeps vetoing fabulous ideas.

I totally agree, an area rug under the dining table would add warmth, texture, color and help the table stand out from the floor.

BeverlyFLADeziner – Before we moved in, we had the walls painted white. Considering the amount of money, we spent to have the place painted, I just cannot justify paying to have the space repainted.

I had to look up light academia. Had never heard of it. Learn a few rules, use them here and there, but you MUST go with your gut. You are far too interesting of a person not to. Your home should be a place for geekery and community and to be surrounded by what you love.

(My dining rooms over the years have had a chemistry cabinet as a china cabinet, a card catalogue, to hold old typewriters on top of, a 6-ft wide picture of my great grandfather's WW1 army regimen, and a tall bookcase with our 26 volume set of the Oxford English Dictionary.)

My gut on your space:

If your husband doesn't want a rug, go without it. You can always add one later.

Make a really tall gallery wall above the buffet. You have the height and what else can you put there that won't cover the thermostat and other thing on that wall? It will also look really nice grounded by the black buffet and whatever you put on top of it.

You need a really big and beautiful statement light over your dining room table to anchor the room. Something that says, "gather here"! It can be very much the same vibe as what you have now, get something you love, but your current light feels wimpy and lost in the space. How wide is the current one? Hang the new one 36"-ish inches above the table. It feels much too high now.

Huge mirror on the brick wall? Large side by side framed Audubon prints? A huge map? An old canvass mural?

I'm not sure what "light academia' means to you, but I was *very* surprised not to see more bookcases! :)

I'm doing 'Light Anemic' pale colors, some metal (very little iron). A few round red pillows, fainting couch, etc.

Hello all,

I wanted to give everyone a few updates on the progress of my space. Plus, I wanted to pick everyone’s brains a bit more.

I finally installed the lights inside my sideboard/bar. In addition, I used a little Rub N Buff on the French bolts, so the metal work stands out a bit more. Plus, my husband and I finally picked out a piece of art, which I hung on a hinge so we could easily access the controls for the furnace and AC.

Additionally, I built a bookshelf! I chose to build a pipe shelf, so I wouldn’t block off the vent for the heater or access to the electrical outlet and the light switches. Plus, a pipe shelf allowed me to easily customize the size of the shelf without being too complicated to build.

Currently, my husband and I are hunting down hardcover copies of all the classic books we read in high school and college.

Also, my husband and I finally picked out a lamp for our reading nook beside the fireplace. Although something doesn’t feel quite right. I love my blue, velvet, tufted chair, and its brass nail heads along the bottom, so I really want to make it work in the space.

I also really want to make those curtains work in the space since I spent a nice chunk of change having them hemmed so they don’t touch the heating vents that run under the window.

Should I replace the rug with something else?

Also does anyone have any suggestions for a footstool?

And the fireplace…. the lights over the mantle are too country for our style. I think I should replace them with light fixtures that point upwards.

The deer is leftover from Christmas and will be heading into storage soon. However, once it’s in storage, I have no idea how to style that mantle.

And finally, would I be completely nuts if I painted the stones on the fireplace black?

What a great update. Such beautiful solutions to problematic things that get in the way like furnace controls and heat vents. The bookshelf is spectacular. Love that you are filling it with high school books.

I would certainly get a new rug. Can't see the whole space but would a rectangular rug that cover a lot of that room make sense? I'd also appreciate something not quite as busy. I'm tempted to see a vintage footstool from FB marketplace or CL.

Fireplace stone colors are not doing it for me either. But, I'd want to see pics of painted ones done well before making the move. I think a grey black instead of black black would be best, and probably flat rather than glossy.

I found a couple of examples of painted stone fireplaces on Pinterest:

@Kendrah: Best Houzz comment ever: “Your home should be a place of geekery…” Here’s a toast to all of us who are geeks and nerds…

@Kelly Kashian - you did an amazing job with the shelf. I love, love, love the blue tufted chair, but the curtains and the rug seem to be fighting each other. I would try to mimic the curtains more in a rug. I like your stones in the fireplace, but not the tile at the bottom. The stone though is much more farmhouse, and painting it black might downplay that.

I agree the rug doesn’t complement the drapes and inviting blue chair. Something that brings those colors together might look like these.

Or this.

@JMig - Yes a toast. Would be cool to learn what other geeky home designs people have undertaken on houzz.

Our dining rooms have included built -ins for our 26 volume OED. One featured space for my grandparent’s antique bible stand upon which we’d place a volume of the OED open to our randomly selected word ofr the day. (Still have not figured out why my Jewish family had a bible stand.)

Hanging if antique maps often dictates furniture layout.

The brick wall is a art piece all on it’s own, let it speak for itself. A much larger chandelier similar to those in the older libraries, look for something similar and in appropriate scale to the Milwaukee or other library/ museum (I adore LA downtown library). A shelf or two above the bar for art and/or decorative crystal liquor bottles(2 - 3), and arrange 2-3 pices of art on the opposite wall. I do not like rugs under the dining table unless very flat so chairs can glide, but also not creating a trip hazard. A beautiful centerpiece will help your table stand out.

Oh, and a 1/2 circle rug or runner in front of fireplace.

I've been contemplating getting this rug: https://www.wayfair.com/rugs/pdp/martha-stewart-rugs-deco-oriental-handmade-tufted-wool-redbrown-rug-msr1915.html?piid=21412617

I wouldn’t paint the fireplace black. The current stone is pretty and adds a warm feeling to the room. I agree the sconces are very “country. Here are some simple black ones from Wayfair to give you ideas on replacements.

I love, love the pipe bookshelf. You’ve made a lot of small changes that are making the room feel more “academic and geeky” but inviting and fun. The blue chair is a winner because it invites anyone to sit there and read.

There must be websites or online groups that help people find originals of old books. That sounds like a wonderful goal for your home.